Faster FDA Approvals Don’t Affect Generic Drug Availability or Cost

I’m proud to share that PharmacyChecker has published a white paper that
examines prices and availability of newly approved generic drugs. Our report,
based on 40 generic medications that were approved from 2017-2018, clearly
shows that generic drug approvals often don’t lead to greater affordability or
even access here in the U.S. We were inspired to examine pricing in addition to
availability after seeing availability research conducted by Kaiser Health News (KHN).

The KHN article concluded that the lack to generic availability in the U.S. “means
thousands or even millions of patients have no option beyond buying branded
drugs that can cost thousands of dollars per month.” As an option for those who
cannot afford that, PharmacyChecker found that 25% of the generic medications
were available online, internationally through pharmacies that are accredited
in the PharmacyChecker Verification Program.

Out of 40 generic medications that
were approved from 2017 to 2018, PharmacyChecker research found the following:

42.5% (17) are not available in the U.S.

10 are available to order internationally

The brand in the U.S. is cheaper than the U.S. generic for 3 of the drugs.

Of the 10 generic drugs available internationally, the prices are on average 85% lower than prices in the U.S.

60% (24) of the brand-name versions are available at accredited international online pharmacies

Of those, 23 brand-name drugs available internationally cost on average 74% less than the brand version sold in the U.S.

Of those, 14 of the brand-name drugs available internationally cost on average 73% less than the U.S. generic versions.

In addition to data analysis of the generic drug prices and those of their
brand counterparts, we provide insight on why generics are approved but don’t
seem to be available. We also help decipher why newly approved generics are
still expensive, including ways patients can access affordable newly approved
generics. We give a short overview of the safety of personal medicine imports
from accredited international online pharmacies, and discuss brand versus
generic quality across different countries.